Music Streaming

Story by Hunter Heier »

One of the most used categories of mobile phone applications today is music streaming. These apps allow users to listen to music from the cloud instead of needing to store files on their device. Many of these applications have large databases of songs, from Rap to Folk to Country. This massive amount of music gives users a lot to choose from, especially when each service offers its own incentives.

Perhaps one of the most well-known music streaming services is Pandora Internet Radio. Originally launched in 2000, Pandora Internet Radio now has over 81 million active users worldwide, as of 2016. Pandora also has its own paid subscription service with 390,000 subscribers as of July 2017. Freshman Matthew Reese is one of these 81 million active Pandora users.

“I like it because it’s free,” said Reese.

One of the ways Pandora keeps is app free is by ad revenue, a common technique in music apps, similar to broadcast radio.

“There’s a reasonable amount of ads, but not to much,” said Reese.

Reese also cited that some of the reasons he likes Pandora is its simplicity and “song skip” feature.

“It’s easy to use,” Reese said, “You can skip songs you don’t like.”

Another large music streaming app is Spotify, Pandora’s main competitor. As of June 217, Spotify has 140 million active users. Spotify also has a paid subscription service with more than 60 million users. Senior Chase Garcia is one of Spotify’s growing number of users.

“It’s more accessible,” said Garcia.

Another advantage Garcia finds is that he can use the Spotify app on more than just his phone.

“I can use it on other devices, like my PlayStation,” Garcia said.

Spotify also allows users to download music onto their device for offline use, which Garcia also enjoys.

Another way some student s